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Jeremy Kagan, M.F.A.

Professor

Affiliated Divisions:

Division of Film & Television Production

Email: kagan@usc.edu
Work Phone: 914-413-0318
Office: SCA 413

Jeremy Kagan is an internationally recognized multi award winning director/writer/producer with twelve feature film credits including the box-office hit Heroes, the political thriller The Big FixThe Chosen (three-time Grand Prize winner), and The Journey of Natty Gann (Gold Prize International Children’s Film Festival).  Among his fifteen television movies are Katherine: The Making of an American Revolutionary, HBO's Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (ACE Award for Best Dramatic Special), Roswell: The UFO Cover-Up (a Golden Globe nominee), Color of Justice about racism, Scott Joplin, Bobbie’s Girl about a lesbian couple and Crown Heights which won the Humanitas Award for "affirming the dignity of every person." He won an Emmy for Dramatic Series Directing and has directed over thirty various dramatic episodes including West Wing and Steven Spielberg’s Taken.. Professor Kagan produced and directed the 10-part series Freedom Files and directed the pilot for the hit series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. His most recent experimental dramatic feature Shot is about gun violence in America www.shotmovie.org. Via his Change Making Media Lab, www.cmml-usc.org, he has made narrative, documentary and animated films for The Doe Fund which works with the homeless, for TreePeople and Bioneers advocating sustainability and social justice; and CMML has won awards for videos on women's health, ADHD and COVID issues.   Professor Kagan served as the Artistic Director of Robert Redford's Sundance Lab and has served on the National Board of the Directors Guild where he has been Chairperson of its Special Projects which serves the 19,000 members with educational, cultural, and technological information.  His books include Directors Close Up, Vol. 1, 2 and 3, and  an interactive eTextbook  Keys to Directing www.kesytodirecting.com, as well as a book on his near death experience and online sites of his exhibited graphic art: jeremykagan.com. He is a Graduate Fellow of the American Film Institute and has an MFA from NYU and a BA from Harvard University. He has taught master filmmaking workshops across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.  He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Television Academy, The Writers Guild, The Producers Guild, and The Directors Guild.